


Normal Again

by pixie_lixie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Deprivation of Liberty, Doctors, Drug Abuse, Drugs, Electrocution, Fluff, Han Jisung | Han is a Ray of Sunshine, Heavy Angst, Homophobia, Hospitals, I hope, I tried at least, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, It's not as bad as it looks, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, M/M, Mentioned Character Death, Minho is confused, Near Death Experience, Near Drowning, Needles, Non-Consensual Electroconvulsive Therapy, Panic Attacks, Plays In The 60s, Restriction of Movement, Suicide Attempt, There are a few cute parts too I swear, camping trip, dead animal, psychiatric clinic, switching realities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:29:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28966131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixie_lixie/pseuds/pixie_lixie
Summary: "The change in scenery keeps flashing in a matter of seconds before his eyes, as if someone was hitting a light switch relentlessly.Minho tries to fight it, blinking rapidly in hopes to get the pictures to go away."
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 11
Kudos: 23





	Normal Again

**Author's Note:**

> !DISCLAIMER!
> 
> First I have to mention that I wrote this story from a horror perspective. The psychiatric clinic and procedures were inspired by American Horror Story Asylum and the whole plot was inspired by the episode "Normal Again" from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. While I did my own research when writing about drugs and the procedures, I am no professional, so be aware that certain scenes may or may not be inaccurate. I, by no means, think that mental illness and homosexuality are supposed to be treated, the way they are in the fic, in real life or should be looked at it the way they are here. Furthermore, I have to say that, while I did tag that it's supposed to play in the 60s, I did not mention it in the fic.
> 
> Also! This was my first time writing in a couple of years and even then, this is the first story I actually sat down for, did research, and thought about thoroughly from start to finish. English is also not my native language! Please be gentle with me >< I'm not as advanced as you might think I am 
> 
> Please, please mind the tags before you proceed with reading! If I should add any tags please let me know!

“Sungie?” Minho calls into the seemingly empty café. “Darling, are you here?”

The head of the boy in question pops out from around the corner of the employee room. Grinning wide, his teeth on full display, “Hello there boyfriend, my significant other, my soulmate, person that I love very much!”

Minho giggles at his boyfriend’s antics, and steps into the flashy room. It’s lined with artwork along the walls, bright neon lights bounce off the checkered linoleum floors, bathing the room in a soft glow, a pleasant melody swinging through the air from the jukebox in the corner. Truly a sight to behold every time one drops by.

Waiting for his boyfriend to finish up and close the store, Minho rubs his arms at the coolness of the night air he just came from, trying to warm up.

“You want your usual, sweetheart?” Jisung asks, standing behind the counter, already grabbing for the chocolate ice cream, ready to make a milkshake.

“Not today, darling. We should get going soon, movie’s going to start in about half an hour.” Minho reminds him. “The earlier we get there, the better the parking spot and view will be.”

They had decided to go to a drive-in-theater to start off their little well-deserved vacation, which would continue afterwards, with a little camping trip to the great lake. Taking some time off was long overdue, since they had been working non-stop. Their hectic daily lives resulted in the couple barely having time for each other. Both of them working multiple part-time jobs, while also going to college to be able to pay for rent and their education.

Jisung takes to putting away the ice cream and cleaning off the counter. Grabbing the trash, he walks through the backdoor, and throws the bag into the container. He takes the keys to the café off the counter, walks over to his boyfriend, and falls into his arms.

“Can you please carry me?” he pouts up at the older. “Had to tend to a birthday party of some spoiled, rich 10 year old and her friends. Made me run around the whole day without a rest!” he grumbles “ _Hey, Squirrel boy! Give me this. Give me that. That tastes like stinky feet_ \- how she knows what they taste like is a mystery to me _. The clown isn’t funny, even I could do a better job and I’m only 10!_ ” he imitates the shrill voice of the kid and huffs in annoyance. “Didn’t know the spawn of the Devil was on the loose, geez”.

The older snickers, amused by his boyfriend’s exaggerated way of describing his misery.

Jisung swats at him “Hey! Don’t laugh at me! You’re supposed to feel sorry for me, and shower me in kisses, and cuddle me to make it better! Not make fun of me!” the younger stomps his foot and crosses his arms over his chest.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” the last bits of laughter fizzle out of Minho’s chest, as he opens his arms for his boyfriend.

“Nope, that train left the station when you sided with a disrespectful brat” he huffs, head held high.

“Come on, Darling. I know you want to~” Minho sing-songs, motioning with his arms for him to accept the hug. He is fully aware that his boyfriend needs more affection than usual, after extra stressful and busy days.

Giving in, the younger waddles over, still pouting exaggeratedly, and hugs the older close. “I will give you all the kisses, cuddles and snuggles you need and deserve once we’re at the theater, my sweet boy” Minho pats his bum and turns in the direction of the door with Jisung still in his arms.

-

The drive-in theater is not as packed as they had previously expected. Considering that a rather popular and long-awaited movie was broadcasted, it is quite roomy.

They pick a spot a little off to the side, pretty close to the front. With the screen wide in front of them, the couple starts to spread out the blankets they brought with them, creating a cozy little nest. Jisung grabs the snacks and drinks that are still in the trunk and brings them to the front, while Minho puts some fairy lights on top of the dashboard to set a warm atmosphere.

As they wait for the movie to start, Jisung crawls over the center console of the car and into his boyfriend’s lap. Snuggling his face into the crook of his neck, the younger breathes in his scent and finally relaxes his exhausted body.

Half an hour into the movie, Minho can feel his eyelids begin to get heavy, fatigue taking over. All those days spent working overtime, are taking their toll on him. studying until the crack of dawn, trying to absorb every single necessary piece of information, worrying whether he’ll be able to graduate or if he should just succumb to the negative thoughts and drop out.

He eventually falls asleep to the soft, steady breathing and occasional laughter of Jisung in his arms.

-

When Minho awakes, it’s nighttime, or at least that’s what he thinks it is, because it’s pitch black in the room. In his still hazy state he wonders how he even came home, since he’s the only one of them to have his license. Maybe Jisung woke him up after the movie ended and made him drive home? So they could get a goodnight’s sleep in the comfort of their own bed before the camping trip? Yeah, that’s probably it.

As he tries to go back to sleep to get the most out of the night, he notices a detail:  
He can’t move. At all. No matter how hard he’s trying to move, arms, legs, literally any part of his body to get him out of this state. It’s not working in the slightest, straining his limbs so hard that they’re starting to hurt. It’s not sleep paralysis, that much he can tell. He’s had it happen a few times and this feels very different from any experience he’s ever had.

As to not hurt himself more than he already did, Minho chooses to breathe for a second and relaxes his sore muscles, in need to figure out what’s going on.

The more consciousness he regains, the more he gets the feeling that something is not right. Now that he thinks of it, this doesn’t feel like his bed. It’s uncomfortable to lay on, the sheets are rough against his limbs. He notices the lack of a blanket and pillows as the coldness of the room is biting his skin and shoots shivers up his spine. With every attempt at movement he makes, the bed gives off a shrill squeak. Minho is trying his best to identify his surroundings in the darkness, only now noticing the faint light seeping through what seems to be the cracks of a door leading out of wherever he’s currently located.

Muffled noises from the other side of said door reach Minho’s ears and he identifies them to be voices. He can’t tell how many there are. Two? possibly three? the less the better. His breathing picks up the pace, as the voices get louder, seemingly coming closer to the room. He’s not usually one for praying but the situation he’s currently in makes him want to pray to whatever deity might be up there to get him out of this predicament.

Without a warning, the door flings open, light from outside flooding in and blinding the young man. As his eyes adjust to the sudden source of light he can make out three figures.  
A woman and two men, wearing scrubs and a white coat, approaching his helpless body. Fear shooting up his body, heart rate picking up, he tries to get away but to no avail. Now noticing that his body has been tied to the bed he was in with leather straps.

“Mr. Lee, would you please stop fighting against it. It’ll only hurt you and will neither benefit you nor us to have a hurt, bruised patient.” The woman says calmly.

Minho only grows even more confused at this “Wha- Wait, what do you mean by patient?! What’s going on? Why am I tied up? Release me this instant!” he growls, fear and anger evident in his trembling voice.

The woman sighs deeply “Gentlemen. If you will?” she turns to the men next to her, motioning over to the younger.

As they approach Minho he tries to break free with all his might, he opts to scream, in hopes that anyone will hear and get him out of here, but it’s of no use. The two scrubs clad men take his arms, pinning him to the bed so he doesn’t move an inch.

The sound of something being unclasped makes Minho snap his head in the direction of the woman, a needle crosses Minho’s vision. She comes closer, the younger's eyes widening.

“It’ll only hurt for a split second, Mr. Lee”

“No! No, no, no, please! what are you doing, please let me go! I’m begging you-” the younger wails.

Minho awakes with a yell, drenched in cold sweat, looking around frantically.

“Sweetheart! Hey, it’s me, Sungie, your boyfriend. Look at me, you’re okay, you’re safe!” Jisung holds the olders face in his hands, trying to calm him down as best as he can. “You had a nightmare, Min. Nothing can hurt you, you’re here with me, at the theater. Do you remember?”

Min is breathing heavily, trembling in his boyfriend’s hold. He has trouble focusing. The scene he was in mere seconds ago still vividly present in his mind.  
“Sungie” the older chokes out with a sob “it felt so real, it felt so unbelievably real- it was so dark, I couldn’t move- they didn’t let me leave, I felt it pierce my skin-” he grabs at his boyfriend, he needs to be close to him, needs something to ground himself.

“Shh, it’s okay, you’re safe with me, Min” he cradles his head to his chest “You have to calm down, Sweetheart. You’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that” the younger rubs his quivering back soothingly. “Breathe with me. That’s right, just like that. You’re doing great”

Once Minho calmed down enough to be coherent and aware of his surroundings, occasional trembles of the aftershock still going through his body, he assures his boyfriend that he’s well enough to be able to drive and sets off towards their home.

-

The entrance of their apartment is crammed with all sorts of bags, making it hard to pass through to the door. Minho finished packing his single bag half an hour ago. His boyfriend on the other hand has been running around their place frantically, piling bags upon bags of items.

“Sung, you do know that it’s just a two-day trip, right?” the older asks his boyfriend, who just stops in his tracks, eyes blown wide.

“Of course I know! But you never know what could possibly happen, so better bring too much than too little!” the younger tries to reason with a pout.

“Sungie, have you even _seen_ our car? None of the things you are planning on bringing to the lake are gonna fit in there, apart from a few bags and snacks!”

“But we need extra clothes in case of an emergency, we need enough food so we don’t run out and I won’t have to deal with a hungry, grumpy boyfriend, medicine in case one of us gets sick-”

“Sungie...they have a grocery store across the campsite. If we run out of food we’ll just get some more”

“But, but what if-”

“Jisung.”

“Two bags? Can I bring at least two bags, please?” he pouts at Minho.

The older of the two sighs heavily “Fine, you get to bring two bags" he wags his finger in amusement, not being able to hold back his smirk any longer "nothing more, nothing less.”

The younger squeals, gives Min's cheek a soft kiss and runs over to the bags.

"Would you please start getting everything to the car? I have to go to the bathroom real quick before we leave"

As Sungie sets to get the bags out, Min heads to the bathroom.

Once done with his business, he looks into the mirror, his eyes shift to the sleeve of his sweater. He brings up his hand and lifts it, exposing a red dot in the middle of the crook of his arm.

What he hadn't told his significant other: the bruise he's gotten in his dream from the needle came with him.

-

“Would you please stop inhaling the chips like that, Sungie? You’ll choke if you keep on doing that” the older tells him, slightly taken off guard. He was so focused on the road as to not take the wrong turn and get lost, that he didn’t notice his boyfriend finishing out yet another bag of snacks.

“I’ve only had two bags of chips! you know how much I eat once I’m bored and they’re my favorite!” Jisung counters.

“I’m aware, but I don’t want you to finish all of it in one go. There’s still at least an hour ride in front of us and you get whiny once you’re hungry”

The younger puts down said snacks, mumbles a faint “fine” and looks out of the open window. He takes in the scenery, the beauty of blooming mother nature a nice change from their monotone city life with dull buildings and constant traffic. The fresh breeze coming through the window calms him enough to lull him to sleep, he curls up into a ball and snores softly against the seat.

-

Minho pulls over into the parking lot of their destination a little while later, in search of a parking spot near the entrance so they won’t have to walk that far. Once the car stills to a stop, he unbuckles his seatbelt and looks over to his boyfriend. He takes in his sleeping form and smiles fondly. The younger hasn’t moved much since he fell asleep.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re here” he rubs Jisung’s back, easing him out of his seemingly deep sleep.

The boy lets out a low grumble in his still sleep-induced state. He doesn’t have the energy to move the first few minutes, but eventually untangles his limbs. Once he looks outside, squinting at the bright rays of sunshine, he gets stunned by the view, eyes widening.

“It’s beautiful here…” the younger trails of, completely taken aback.

“It is” Minho says lovingly. Jisung turns in his boyfriend's direction and catches him staring at him with a dreamy look on his face. From time to time the older would just stare at the younger and ask himself how he got so lucky to find someone this amazing, caring and crazy to call his.

“I was talking about the view!” Jisung blushes, cheeks a pretty pink.

“You _are_ my view”

The younger swats at him and rolls his eyes. He steps out of the car and stretches his sore muscles up to the sky. Minho comes up behind him and engulfs him in a tight, content back hug and kisses his neck.

-

As soon as they have dropped off their bags, they start setting up their tent for the next two days. Afterwards, they change into their swimming attire, grab a few towels, sunscreen, and some water, before heading off in the direction of the great lake. They don’t even mind putting down their towels properly, instead opting to just throw them into a pile and help each other put on the sunscreen to protect their skin from the scorching heat. The two sprint into the water without much thought, the coolness of the water a nice contrast to their warmed up skin from the sun.

For the first time in quite a while the two can let loose. They forget all their worries, even if it’s just for a short period of time, it was desperately needed.

“Hey, darling. Come over here.” the older calls.

As Jisung comes closer he gets hit in the face with water, his boyfriend having started an attack on him. The younger instantly counterattacks, splashing Minho with as much force as he can, not ready to lose this fight. They continue to chase each other and drench the other in water. Their chests rumble with laughter, bodies shaking from the amount of joy they’re feeling. The occasional shriek can be heard in between laughs and splashes of water.

“Okay, okay! I give up!” Minho calls out “I’m getting too old for this, I need a break” he adds, breathing heavily.

“It’s okay, grandpa. Better rest before you get a heart attack.” Jisung laughs.

“Ha ha ha, very funny” Minho retorts in a sarcastic manner. Without much thought Jisung swims over and holds onto him, legs locked behind his back and arms going around his neck. “I’m just joking, you’re not that old, just a teeny tiny bit” the younger pinches two fingers to emphasize his statement.

“I’m going to drop you if you keep this up” the elder of the two threatens and begins to slowly pull away his hands from under him.

As if something bit him, Jisung surges forward and connects their lips. He lets out a tiny whisper against his lips and smirks “I love you”

“I love you too, darling” Minho returns affectionately but pulls back, noticing the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I don’t like the face you’re making. Whenever you give me that look something bad is going to happen” the older says cautiously, now trying to move away from the younger to be safe.  
Jisung however holds onto him and inches closer and closer “Remember how you tripped me earlier and caused me to swallow a whole mouthful of water? Or how you sneaked up behind me and scared the living hell out of me? Well it’s payback time, sweetie” his smirk stretches out into a full grin.

“Oh come on, Sungie! We were just fooling around and I apologized!” Minho retorts with a whiny tone apparent in his voice.

“You should’ve thought about that before you made me fall head first into shallow water” without a second to spare, Jisung launches at Minho and tries to duck his head underwater. They put up a fight, Min trying to escape his wrath and put as much distance between the too as fast as possible. Jisung, however, is faster than he previously thought and catches up in no time.

“Sungie, please, I didn’t mean it!” Minho tries to redeem himself but it’s too late. Before he can even process it, his head gets pushed underwater.

The second he tries to open his eyes, Images start flashing in front of him. One second he sees his boyfriend's legs dangling in the water right in front of him, and the next he sees a dirty-white ceiling with a lightbulb hanging from it. The change in scenery keeps flashing in a matter of seconds before his eyes, as if someone was hitting a light switch relentlessly. He’s in a bathtub, once again tied up like he remembers from his nightmare a few days ago. Minho is clearly underwater but can see people standing around him. Minho tries to fight it, blinking rapidly in hopes to get the pictures to go away. They look down at him, try to grab at his body and pick him up. It feels like he’s being pulled, almost torn, between reality and whatever world he’s seeing.

Jisung notices the lack of fight coming from his boyfriend. The older has stopped moving completely, lifelessly floating in the water. “Minho!” Panic surges through his body and without another thought he grabs him by the arms and yanks him back up to the surface.

Minho heaves deeply and gasps for air, heart beating in his ears at high speed. He feels shivers go through his body from the lack of air and fear at what he just witnessed for a second time.

“Minho! Sweetheart! Can you hear me?!” The younger frantically swims to the shallowest part of the lake so he can put him in a sitting position. “Keep breathing, Min.” he hugs him close, has to keep him upright so he doesn’t fall over into the water.

Minho can barely hear his boyfriend, his ears ringing obnoxiously and head feeling too heavy to hold up.

“Hey, no sleeping, Min. Keep those eyes open for me, hm?”

It takes the older several minutes to calm down enough to not feel like he’s going to pass out.

“Jesus, you scared the living hell out of me! What was that? What happened?”

“I- I don’t know...my vision started to blur the second I was underwater” Minho scrunches his face in thought, in hopes that he’ll remember what exactly happened.

“I just blacked out. I can’t exactly tell what happened or what I saw. It looked like the dream I had when I fell asleep at the theater. The atmosphere was the same. People were standing around me and tried to pull my body...as if, trying to tug me over into the dream.” he added with a shiver, eyes tearing up.

“Any idea as to why you could be having dreams like that?” the younger asks softly, not wanting to upset his boyfriend further.

“I wish I knew...I just started dreaming about this place a few days ago and now it won’t leave me alone. I keep seeing it whenever I close my eyes, it’s haunting me” Minho slumps against the smaller boy and lets his tears fall.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you, Sungie” he looks up into said boy’s eyes. The younger in shock, still, at almost witnessing his boyfriend drown right in front of him. “What is it?”

“See this bruise on my arm? I-I got it in my first nightmare about that place. At least I think I did…” he trails off, not sure himself if he can believe his own words.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, it’s where that woman, probably a nurse if I had to guess, pierced my skin with a needle. That’s what caused me to wake up from it. I actually felt the pain of it shoot through my body and that lingering pain stayed until a few hours later” Minho looks down to his feet “What is happening to me?” he whispers with a scared expression on his face.

“I have no clue, sweetheart…”

“Come on, let’s get you wrapped up in a towel and warm you in the sun” the younger helps his boyfriend to his feet and they slowly make their way over to where they threw their stuff in a pile when they arrived. “I think we’ve had enough water for the time being, hm?”

-

“Sweetheart” Minho hears Jisung call in a hushed voice “Min, are you awake?” the older groans and turns over to look at the younger.

“I am now” he answers in a slightly slurred voice. Minho had taken a nap. After what happened at the lake earlier in the day he really needed some rest to calm down so they went over to where they placed their tent.

“Can we go get snacks? We ran out and I’m hungry” pouts Jisung.

Minho stares at him with hooded eyes, still half asleep “What do you mean we ran out? We literally just arrived here a few hours ago”

“Well, I have high metabolism! Can we please get some? The store is right across the street!”

Minho just lies back down and nuzzles into his pillow “Can’t we do that tomorrow? I don’t want to move”

“But I need snacks! How else am I supposed to watch anything?” Sungie tries to reason “There’s no fun in watching without sweet or savory deliciousness that are snacks! Would you go to the theater and not get popcorn? No!” he gets up and starts tugging at his boyfriend in hopes to get him to accompany him “Come on, Min. We can sleep all we want later now I need my snacks!”

Groaning deeply, Minho moves to sit up reluctantly “Fine”

-

“Don’t you think you’ve got enough snacks, Darling?” Minho asks out of breath. He’s been running after the younger in zig zags from shelf to shelf for the past 10 minutes, a basket in each hand. He kept piling snacks upon snacks, almost as if he’s bulk purchasing for the next 2 weeks, but really they’re only here until the day after tomorrow.

Jisung halts his movements and turns into his direction. The younger one seems to snap out of his shopping trance, a sheepish smile gracing his lips “Was that all me?” he rubs his neck while looking at the overflowing baskets in his boyfriend’s hands and puts away the three packs of gummy bears he just picked up.

“Well, it definitely wasn’t me. I didn’t have time to look around because you practically zoomed through the store. I even lost you at some point before I found you three isles further down at the cheesecake section” he tells him amusedly.

“I didn’t even realize...hand me one of the baskets and let me bring back some of the stuff” Jisung moves over, hand on one of the handles already before the older pulls it from his grasp. “It’s fine, darling, really. I’ll get you all of them if that makes you happy”

“Lee Minho, I love you” Jisung embraces the elder in a tight hug. He cups his face and gives him a soft, gentle kiss right on the lips.

“I love you too, Sungie. Let’s go to the checkout, shall we?” Minho parts from the younger’s hold and stretches his hand out in the other’s direction.

Jisung slots his hand with his boyfriend’s without hesitation and swings them enthusiastically “Let’s!”

As they approach the quite decently packed line for the checkout, Minho stretches out his arm to the right and grabs a few soft drinks off the beverage shelf, to add them to their purchase.

The younger snuggles into Minho’s side. He grabs his arm, and cuddles it closer to his small frame while they wait in line, before looking up at him “Does it still hurt?” he asks quietly.

Minho looks down and notices that he’s been holding onto the bruised arm. “No, darling, not really...it went away the day after it happened.”

“Do you think it has any meaning?” Jisung traces the bruise cautiously in wonder.

The older hums in thought at the question “I’m not sure...I’ve never had something like this happen to me before. I’m just wondering why now, why so frequently and why do I feel it so intensely…”

“Was there anything that set it off by any chance? Bad memories or experiences could cause you to get triggered” the younger wonders as he slips his hand into Minho’s and locks fingers tenderly.

“Hm, not that I know of honestly. It started off with just a bad dream, and I thought that would be it, but today it came suddenly in the middle of the day, as if I had a blackout”

The two approach the cashier as the queue thins out, and pay for the enormous amount of snacks and drinks. They leave shortly after, but not before trying to tug Jisung away from the cheesecake display that he miraculously missed when entering the store.

-

With three bags of all sorts of snacks and drinks, the pair makes their way over to their tent, which essentially is their bedroom for the next few days. Considering the recent events, they set on watching a few shows they wanted to catch up on. Work and college made it nearly impossible to have some cozy, relaxing cuddle time for just the two of them.  
Not feeling particularly fancy this evening, approaching night, it feels only right to order a pizza to-go from one of the pizza places right at the shore of the lake. They don’t make it through half a season of one of their favourite shows before they fall asleep in the comfort of  
their partner in their arms, crickets chirping nearby, the occasional laughter from a few people sitting around a bonfire sounding in the distance.

-

“Not going to lie, I’ll miss the peace and quiet, but I definitely won’t miss sleeping on the floor for two days straight. My back is fucking killing me” Jisung groans out.

Minho laughs but winces instantly, his back not far better off than the younger’s “We really should’ve brought an inflatable mattress or at least some air mats”

“Well I was planning on it! But no, you told me that I couldn’t bring this much luggage, so the poor mattress is having a blast with the other bags at our apartment's entrance” Jisung retorts with a huff while trying to stuff the tent into its bag. Why do those never fit no matter which way you roll them up after you’ve taken them out once?

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry, I doubted your incredible overpacking skills and the importance of their contents” he puts his hands up in defense as he receives a glare from his boyfriend who’s currently struggling with the zipper of the bag the tent is supposed to fit in.

“Just leave the zipper be, Sungie, before you break-” the audible sound of cloth ripping rings through the air before he can even finish his sentence “-it.”

The boy at fault looks away in embarrassment, cheeks rosy and coughs “We should get going, we have a long ride in front of us!” he says as he speed walks to the car, avoiding the older.

“At least clean up the murder scene, will you!”

-

The way back is surprisingly faster than they expected, but then again, it’s late evening on a sunday and most people taking a weekend trip would already be home and off the roads.

Once parked in their designated parking spot of the apartment complex, Minho lets out a deep sigh, muscles sore from driving and sitting for hours on end. He notices light snores from the passenger seat, looking over he sees that his boyfriend is once again fast asleep. Curled up in his seat with one of the spare blankets wrapped around his tiny frame.

Minho decides against moving all their luggage from the car. They can do that tomorrow when it’s light out and they won’t have to worry about being loud, stumbling around the hallways with heavy bags. As quietly as possible, he takes the younger out of his seat and carries the tiny bundle up the stairs on light feet.

Weaving through the masses of extra luggage Jisung planned on bringing is a true challenge, but it’s nothing he can’t manage. He’s been with the younger for quite a while now after all, so things like that arent that uncommon. He gently puts the younger under the blankets, and undresses himself before slipping under as well, scooting closer to his boyfriend. Jisung instinctively reaches out to hug the older close as soon as he feels his warm presence. Minho gives him a tiny peck on his forehead and drifts off to sleep.

-

The next couple days they find their way back into routine; wake up, get ready, attend classes, eat if given the time, go to work, come home, cuddle and occasionally watch a movie if time allows it, go to sleep, repeat. It gets boring and monotone easily but it’s like second nature at this point, moving as if on autopilot.

As Minho enters the apartment he gets a handful of his boyfriend in his arms, when the younger practically flings himself at him. “Hi, Sweetie! I missed you!” Jisung smiles brightly at him, eyes forming beautiful crescents.

“Hello there, Sungie!” the older can’t help but to laugh at his enthusiasm. He sets him down on his feet and pulls him in for a kiss “What’s gotten you so hype?”

“Nothing! I just missed you a lot! Can’t one miss his boyfriend after not having seen him for hours?” the younger answers frantically.

“No, no that’s absolutely valid, Darling. It’s just that you usually react this way when you’re trying to hide something” Minho looks at him suspiciously, holding his face in his hands, squishing his cheeks. “What are you hiding, hm?”

“W-Why would I be hiding something? Haha you’re funny, me and hiding something, pff”

“Sungie, spill” the older narrows his eyes, suspicions rising.

“IwantedtodothelaundrybutIthinkIwashedsomeanimalwiththelaundryIdidbeforourtripsonowitsmellslikedeathand-”

“Sungie, calm down! Take a deep breath and repeat that again, please”

The younger does as told and breathes in deeply, releasing it through his mouth “I wanted to do the laundry because we haven’t had the time to wash any of the things we brought with us to the trip. But I think I might’ve washed some animal with the load I did before the trip so now it smells like death in there and we might need a new washing machine” Jisung looks down at his feet, guilt gnawing at his conscience. They can’t afford a new one, they can barely pay their bills and buy groceries as it is.

“It’s okay don’t beat yourself up about it, hm?” the older hugs the other, rubbing his back in a comforting manner. “You want me to take a look? Maybe it’s not as bad as you think”

“Yeah, but please be careful! I don’t want you to catch anything” they pull apart and make their way towards the bathroom.

As soon as they enter, Minho gets hit in the face by a strong smell of something decaying “Woah, that’s intense” the older takes a few steps back, pinching his nose tightly “You weren’t kidding when you said something died in here, dear god”

The older looks around the room in search of a facemask, towel, anything to block his nose and mouth from the stench up in the air. He grabs the next best thing he can find, an old shirt, and puts it around his face, tying it at the back so he can use both his hands if needed.

“I’m right behind you if you need me!” the younger calls from behind the wall and looks past the door frame. “Thanks, Sungie, I feel so much safer now” Minho retorts in a sarcastic tone of voice.

He approaches the appliance carefully, dragging his feet over the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, bracing himself for any possible scenario. Minho would be lying if he said that he’s not slightly uneasy. WIth hesitant footsteps he comes closer and closer until he stops right in front of it. He’s listening closely, trying to figure out, if he can make out any kind of sound from the supposed animal but, fortunately, hears nothing.

“It seems like the smell is coming from behind the washing machine” the older calls out to inform the younger. “I’m going to move it now and look behind it”

Minho moves it, on high alert, ready to jump and run away at any given time. As he moves it far enough from the wall it’s positioned at, he can hear a low thud come from behind it. Anxiously the older looks over at his boyfriend and by reading his facial expression, the younger heard it too. Slowly he moves it a little further until he can look behind it and jumps five feet in the air upon seeing the dead marder lying right in front of his eyes.

“Well, it looks like a marten sneaked its way into our apartment without us noticing” he informs his boyfriend, relieved that they found the cause of the smell, and that it’s not gonna be moving around anymore. “By the looks of it, I’d say you didn’t wash it tho, I think it might’ve gotten stuck behind the machine and didn’t make it out anymore”

“a marten?!” Jisung asks in utter disbelief.

Min looks a little closer at the crime scene at hand, and notices loose wires lying a little off to the side. They once connected the appliance to the power outlet, but are now in two “this little guy made it its job to gnaw away at the power cable though”

The younger emerges from his hiding place once the possibility of any kind of danger is seized. “Oh thank god I thought I’d have to turn myself in for murder” a puff of air leaving his lungs in relief. “Should I call someone to fix the cable tho?” he suggests.

“I attend tech school, darling. I’m on my way to get my degree, I’m sure I can fix that” he boasts “It’s just a few loose cables, right? Step aside and let the expert take care of it”

He leans down and reaches out for the cables. He just has to connect the right ones again and isolate it, right? What could go wrong? The only difficulty here being that they’re so tiny and flimsy that he can barely grab a hold of them, almost falling out of his hands on multiple occasions.

While he’s occupied with the task at hand, the younger looks around trying to figure out where the rodent came from. At further inspection he can make out water, coming from under the washing machine. The fluid forming a puddle right next to the wall, touching his boyfriend’s foot. His eyes widen as he moves his eyes further up along the wall and realises the power cable is still connected to the power outlet. In this moment the older grunts, the cable having slipped from his hands, right into the puddle at his feet.

“Minho, watch out!”

A huge shockwave hits the elders feet. It runs through his entire body as soon as the loose wire connects with the water. It’s making his body shake violently, his feet still in contact with the source of electricity. Minho is unable to move, the power of the current is too strong. He’s unable to reach out for his boyfriend or yell out. The pain turning into numbness. Minho blacks out, only for him to see images flash before his eyes at rapid speed. They blend into each other and blur his vision and mind. He feels some sort of relief, assuming that someone dragged him from the attack on his whole being.

The feeling doesn’t hold on for long, however. Another wave of shock is hitting him, but this time it feels way different. It’s concentrated on another part of his body, less intense. The lack of intensity clearing his vision slowly, his limbs regain their ability to move partially. He’s weakly trying to fight against the pain and get out of it.

Minho is screaming out as soon as he can feel his lungs contract and catch a whiff of air. His eyes catching shadows of movement around him, making out figures. He’s thrashing desperately to make the pain stop.

Suddenly the input of electricity that coursed through his rigid body stops. He’s crying out as his body goes into aftershock. The pain his body drowned out by numbness crashing down on him, making his entire being convulse. His breathing picks up in pace as his lungs struggle.

It takes him several moments to bring his eyes to focus again. The Initial shock slowly dissipating, pain however still present strongly. As soon as he looks around dread pools in his stomach.. This can’t be.

“Mr. Lee? Can you hear me?” someone calls out to him. His head moved upright.

He looks over, trying to make out the origin of the voice reaching his ears.

“I think the procedure went successfully. Good job, everyone”

Only half listening, Minho catches bits and pieces of what’s being said. Procedure? Is he at the hospital? He tries to confirm his earlier suspicions and dares to look directly at the people next to him in hopes that they’ll prove him wrong. To his horror, he recognizes the nurse to be the same he already saw once, as he got the injection. He’s here again.

He has no will to fight left after what just happened. Voice only a mere, weak whisper "Why am I here again?”

"You've been here for a while, Mr Lee. You got admitted to this facility three years ago" a new voice he doesn’t recognize utters in response.

At that Minho perks up, clearly confused. There’s no way this is real, this is all just a dream again. If he tries hard enough he’ll get back again. He has to.  
"T-That's Impossible. I've only been here twice and even then I don’t know how that happened” Minho is voice shaky, the longer he stays the more anxious he gets. The more real it seems.

“Mr. Lee. You’ve been in a state of temporary unresponsiveness for a few weeks now. Every once in a while we have to get you back to your senses because you get so distant that no amount of talking or moving you or your body gets you out of it. We tried multiple different methods, however only the shock therapy seems to prove successful as it’s focused on your brain.”

The amount of information, nonsense is overwhelming him. All he wants is to be back home in the arms of his lover and forget everything that’s happened. Everything that’s trying to fuck with his head.

“Where is Jisung?”

“Jisung? you mean patient 086?” the nurse he remembers from his last encounter comes up from behind the person that’s been talking to him until now.

“p-patient?” fear consumes him.

“Yes. Han Jisung passed around 6 months ago”

No, no, no that’s not happening. This is not real. Don’t listen to them. He keeps telling himself, not believing a word they’re saying. “What do you mean “passed”?!” I was with him just now before I got here again! What did you do!” the boy screams out, clenching his jaw. Tears are collecting in his eyes. He still has hope that this is all just a bad dream, that what they’re telling him is just his imagination playing with his senses.

“Han Jisung’s body got too weak over the months he’s been here. It seems that it got too much for him so he decided to take his own life.” a tear slips Minho’s eyes at their words.

“You have been talking about him ever since he passed, Mr. Lee. You’ve been talking to him. You didn’t show any signs of responsiveness as I mentioned before. Nurses heard you talk, however, quite frequently. From what we can tell by observing you, you might be trying to live a seperate life in your imagination to drown out the reality of what happened.”  
He can’t take it anymore. Minho lashes out on one of them, throwing his arms around frantically, screaming bloody murder. One of the male nurses grabs him by the arms and has him in a tight hold, keeping him from moving.

The harsh words crash down on him at once and he sinks to the floor, limbs giving out on him. He’s sobbing uncontrollably.

“We’ll leave you for the time being until you calm down. I'll have a nurse check up on you.” one calls out. The man holding him lets him go and his entire body slouches onto the cold tiled floor. Any type of strength or composure leaving him.

He’s beyond confused, keeps trying to remember how he got thrown into this mess. He got home, Jisung told him something wasn’t right at home….but what was it? The memories are a little blurry. The more he calms down the more focused he gets and tries sorting through his thoughts. He was fixing something. Jisung mentioned something smelling bad...like death? Oh! the washing machine! some animal died behind it and he was fixing the wiring but got electrocuted in the process!

Did he pass out? Was it all just a dream? Did he die and is now trapped in this hell hole he kept seeing frequently?

As Minho was ruminating the door to his room creaks open and in comes a seemingly older woman, in her 50s maybe. “How are you, Mr. Lee? Still thinking about your boy?”

“Excuse Me?” he says completely bewildered.

“Are you back again? Do you remember anything?” she steps closer and looks down on him. "Poor thing couldn't handle it. Took his own life in the room right next door." she says in mock sympathy. "Being gay doesn't seem right after all. Two men aren’t supposed to love, how are you going to provide to this generation with descendants? We have to do something to help the upcoming generations. Seems your little lover couldn't take it anymore, hm?"

Minho was raging. He was already confused enough as is and this woman saying such vile things about his Jisung? He was ready to pounce. “You better leave this instant or you’ll regret coming at all” he practically growls, his emotions getting to the best of him.

“I’m just saying. Don’t mourn over something that wasn’t meant to be in the first place.” the older woman shrugs with a lazy expression on her face. “Daily meet up at the main hall  
is in 20 minutes. Better get going soon, I don’t want to drag you out again.” the door slams and the jingle of keys can be heard in the distance after the nurse locks his door and wanders off.

-

An alarm signal goes off and all heavy metal doors open simultaneously, startling Minho. He’s been sitting on the floor trying to make sense of his situation.

The nurse's reminder of a meet up cursing through his mind, he makes his way to the supposed hall, which he doesn’t know where is located. Since this is basically his third time being here, contrary to everyone’s belief it seems, he just follows the others heading in the same direction, in hopes that they’ll lead him.

Sooner rather than later, he steps foot into the spacious room with a good few handfuls of people already scattered. For the first time he actually takes in his surroundings and everyone's attire. Loose white and grey clothing, monotone looking, giving the place a dull atmosphere. The Walls are run down with cracks adorning them, exposing the cement underneath the surface. The windows barely keep the warmth in due to most either having been smashed in or simply being too old. The floors show signs of years worth of use. It’s nothing short of terrifying.

It’s only now that he remembers the nurse in his first dream saying something about him being a patient. If that was even a dream, he can’t tell anymore if he’s being honest.

Nurses are scattered across the hall, talking to patients. Minho walks in further and feels uneasy. There are all kinds of people present. Some are talking normally, some are mumbling to themselves, some are dancing to the tune of a song playing on the gramophone in the corner of the room, some are screaming and some are being sat down, restricted by their own movement by a straightjacket. He shouldn’t be here.

A nurse at the entrance keeps him in line with everyone else who just arrived. They are giving out tiny white cups to the patients and waiting for them to take them in before they move on. He assumes they’re vitamins, maybe even sedatives to keep everyone at bay. The line gets shorter and Minho gets closer. They give him his cup and tell him to open his mouth and stretch out his tongue to make sure he swallowed it.

Minho steps away and finds a sofa to sit down at. He makes sure that nobody is watching him, spits out the pills he kept under his tongue and buries them in the flowerpot standing on a table next to him. He needs to have a clear head to come up with a plan to get out.

-

“Oh you didn’t pass out this time?” someone makes themselves comfy next to Minho. The nurse.

“What are you on about?” he side eyes her irritatedly, not really in the mood to have a conversation with someone who insulted him and his boyfriend. He doesn’t believe whatever is going on here if he’s being honest.

“Hey, a little more respect!” she tries to reprimand him in a stern tone.

“Treat me with respect and I’ll think about it” he shoots back.

The older woman only huffs “fair”.

“Well, anyway, usually you just pass out after a good few hours due to your hysterics, or we have to sedate you and you drift off to wherever your mind wanders every time for weeks” she says casually while placing her leg over the other and puts her chin in the palm of her hand.

Something in Minho clicks.

Last time he shifted here they gave him an injection and he snapped back out of it. If he gets them to make him pass out again he’ll get back! The only thing unclear is why he shifted when he got dunked under water.

“What are you thinking about?” the nurse asks while staring at the patients lazily to make sure everything’s going according to norms.

“Nothing.” Minho thinks for a second “Uhm, I remember being underwater somewhere? In a bathtub?”

“Oh yeah” she scoffs. “You got back to your senses for a short while and the head doctor made us give you a bath. We had to tie you up because you wouldn’t stop thrashing around, trying to hit literally anyone in sight. One of the nurses here was naive enough to leave you alone for five seconds and you managed to dunk yourself underwater and tried to drown yourself” she recounts.

The boy stares in shock. He tried to kill himself? Is that why he saw this place?

“I tried to commit...why?” Minho gapes at her in disbelief

“Beats me. But then again you were so devastated over the death of your beloved boyfriend that you couldn’t take it anymore. I guess that would explain it. You didn’t get far, though. You only passed out before we dragged you out of the water”

So he only has to lose consciousness to shift. Interesting.

-

It’s been two days since he came here, to the Asylum, which Minho figured it probably is. The way they treat the people here is at the lowest standard he’s ever seen before. He barely ate at all since the food is as horrible as the building looks. Sleep didn’t get to him easily either, and when it did, someone screaming across the hall in their own cell woke him up. It’s already scary to be here as it is, Minho constantly on edge, and to add to all of that they keep him tied up or restrict his movement in the room as much as possible so he wouldn’t hurt himself in any way.

He’s thought about ways to knock himself out, to make this nightmare end. Hitting his head really hard on something, aggravating one of the nurses so they’d lash out at him or sedate him would be an option too. He’s also thought about the more extreme ways like throwing himself out of the window of his room, but since his window is barred he figured that’d be his last and hardest solution. The less painful ways are at the top of his agenda as of now. Anything to get him out of here.

-

He’s been sitting on the floor next to his bed, carving little figures into the floor with the broken edge of a tile, the lack of sleep getting to him. Like that he drifts off to a light sleep when suddenly “ _Minho, please, if you can hear me, come back to me_ ”. He snaps out of it as if he got burned. That was Jisung’s voice, he’s almost a hundred percent certain. His voice sounded as if he’s been crying nonstop, full of pain and agony. Minho’s heart hurts just hearing it and not being able to be there for him and hold him in his arms. But Jisung is still there somewhere. He’s okay.

-

This continues on happening for the next few days, Minho drifts off to sleep during the day, Jisung’s voice wakes him before he can even grasp it.

Close to one week since his “arrival”, he got the daily routine they put him through almost memorized. If he remembers right, today should be another one of those days for them to gather around the main hall and socialize.

Minho’s got a plan figured out. He had more than enough time to think of something thoroughly, and today is the day it’ll go into action. As if on cue, another harsh beeping sound rings through the halls, and opens all the doors of the rooms leading to the main hallway.

Stepping out of his room, he makes sure that no nurses, doctors, or any of the like are around, and follows the patients heading to the meeting place. Halfway there, he deems the coast to be clear and takes a sharp right turn into a little side path. Minho’s first idea of a possible solution to get him out, is to sneak some sleeping pills or possibly injections which would certainly knock him out. Where does he obtain such things? The infirmary, of course.

The few times he’s been at their meetup, he saw plenty of nurses, if not all of the ones working here. He didn’t see any doctors, so he figured they would be taking a break or working in their offices in the meantime, since all of the patients already got what they needed to get through the next few hours. All of that considered, Minho hopes that the infirmary of all places would be empty.

He steps in front of a door, a few hallways and sharp turns later, that reads “Infirmary” in big bold font. Looking left and right as a precaution he goes for the handle and to his surprise, finds it unlocked.

He has to move quickly if he doesn’t want to get caught. Hurriedly, he slips into the dimly lit room, a couple cabinets stand tall against all four walls, carrying medicine, files and various surgical instruments from what Minho can tell from the distance through the glass doors. Minho moves to the drawers closest to him first, and rummages around in hopes to find anything usable.

Without much success, he leaves the drawers be and shuffles across the dilapidated tiled floor to check the cabinets next. As he deems the first few useless, since they hold anything but medicine, he looks up and finds one cupboard hanging on the wall. A lock is keeping it shut, the key missing. Surely, any drugs that could cause serious harm if not taken properly, would be locked away there, judging by the fact that nothing useful has been found so far.

“key...where is the key” Minho wonders aloud, going through the drawers again, in hopes that he accidentally missed it, and the nurses didn’t take it with them.

A sweat breaks out on his skin. He’s been taking too long to find what he needs, and it’s only a matter of time until they’ll notice that he’s gone and go look for him.

Frantically, he rushes around the room, almost tripping over his own feet as he hears a set of footsteps coming down the hallway. Minho scrambles to the nearest wall and hides behind a cabinet. He holds his hand over his mouth to keep his panting at bay.

The door to the infirmary opens with a swing, and the clicking of a pair of heels echoes through the space. A nurse walks across the room, Minho luckily hidden from her sight, as her back is turned to him, and flings a set of keys on the counter. If she turns around now she’ll be face to face with Minho.

Before the nurse can make a full 180 though “Ms. Kim? Nurse Bae is looking for you in the common room, said it’s pretty urgent” chimes in a soft voice. The owner of the voice is quite literally saving his ass, as she turns into the direction of the door and scurries away, forgetting the keys in the process.

Minho shoots out of his hiding place as soon as they’re out of earshot and grabs the keys. His hands are trembling and sweaty, nerves going through his body. He tries the first few but the lock won’t budge. In his frenzy he accidentally drops the keys and scrambles to pick them up again.

The next key he tries slides in with ease and he turns it, opening the cabinet successfully.

Without wasting anymore time he scours through the cupboard and finally, jackpot: Insulin.

If taken in moderation by a diabetic it proves beneficial and helpful to keep their blood pressure at bay. If taken in excess by a non-diabetic however, it can cause serious damage, and worst case, death. Finally all the random 3am searches he and Jisung go through when they let loose for a night pay off.

Minho grabs a handful of insulin syringes and stuffs them into the pockets of his wide grey pants that barely hold onto his frame, only being weighed down by the syringes even more.

Quickly he closes the cupboard as quiet and as fast as he can. In the process of sticking in the key and turning it, the door opens wide. Minho freezes and shuts his eyes closed, somehow hoping that they won’t see him, even though that’s impossible with him being at the center of the room for everyone to see.

“Yes, I’m rushing over now. I just need to get Ms. Kim’s-” Minho can hear their shuffling come to a halt.

“Shit” he breathes out.

“If this isn’t Mr. Lee, whom we’ve been searching for” a deeper voice states, he’s been caught like a deer in the headlights.

Minho, against his better judgment, makes a move towards the door and tries to sprint past who seems to be a nurse in the doorway. He, of course, does not make it very far. The nurse being way more muscular than him and most likely also trained in keeping possible escapees in the building.

Minho doesn’t even try to fight for it, well aware that there’s no way in hell that he’ll break free from his murderous grasp.

-

Plan A was far from being successful. Minho thought he had it in his pocket, literally speaking. Despite it being his first idea, it went relatively well, if it hadn’t been for that goddamned nurse busting in right as he was about to clean up his traces and leave.

Now he’s in a new room, heavily guarded by a man next to his bed, one at the window and two outside in front of his door. They had him transferred to the wing holding the more unpredictable and dangerous patients. Minho’s wrists and ankles are wrapped in leather, chained to the bed. The bed is as uncomfortable as in his first encounter with this hell hole.

Ever since they caught him trying to get away with a load of insulin in his pockets, he’s been thinking of his plan b. He has a few options left, and after going through each of those and the possible risks of carrying them out, he set on the least dangerous and laborious one. All he has to do is aggravate one of the workers or guards here, and if he succeeds they’ll sedate him, or a little more harsh, but nonetheless effective, knock him out.

So far he hasn’t been able to do much. The people guarding him are as cold and quiet as a stone, not moving an inch unless a worker speaks to them. Of course he tried to talk to them, bring their blood to boil, get them to lash out. But to his demise, they didn’t look offended in the slightest, much less, showed any kind of emotions on their faces or in their body language.

Minho is waiting for the perfect moment to execute his escape plan.

-

He hears the entrance to his room unlock. A nurse he isn’t familiar with steps in, holding something that looks like a metal tray with food. Considering that he’s now located in a different part of the building, the nurses would of course also be unfamiliar to him.

They come closer to him and pull out a chair to sit down next to his bed, not feeling intimidated in any way since he’s chained up, and therefore powerless for the most part.

“I am going to feed you now, Mr. Lee” they speak up.

Minho sighs, having been through this a couple times already “I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself, if you would just unchain one of my wrists” Minho grows slightly annoyed.  
“I can’t do that for safety reasons”

“I highly doubt I would be able to do much damage with both my ankles and one of my wrists still being restricted. Besides, it would save both of us time if I could do it myself.” he tries to reason.

“No can do. I’m sorry, but it’s the rules. Now open up”

-

Once Minho is full, or more like done with being spoon fed, the nurse gets up and goes for the door. Before they leave, however, they turn in his direction.

“I almost forgot. This evening, around 9pm, the guards will bring you down to the showers. Along with a handful of other patients, you’ll get to wash up and will be handed a fresh set of clothes.” without another word, they turn around and leave the room.

A few hours after his so-called “dinner”, and more absolute silence with four complete strangers in one room, one of the guards, that was next to the window, makes his way over to Minho.

“It’s close to 9pm, we should get going now.” the guard stops right in front of the metal railing at the end of his bed.

Minho only hums.

They remove the cuffs around his wrists and ankles so he can stand up properly. Before he gets a chance to stretch out his sore muscles though, they put a pair back onto his wrists.

The walk to the showers takes its sweet time. For some reason they only have two shower rooms in the entire building, and they’re both located in the basement. While walking there, Minho comes across a few patients walking in the same direction. He assumes they’re also headed to the showers. Most of them have cuffs around their wrists too. Some have conjoined ankle chains in addition to their hands being restricted of movement. A few however, got the more extreme kind, clad in straitjackets. Minho gets a strange feeling in his gut from them, and keeps closer to the wall, hopefully out of their sight. For all he knows there are all kinds of people in this facility, ranging from harmless to dangerous.

-

After what felt like an eternity, they finally arrive, and are made to stand in a line outside of the showers.

“A fresh set of clothes will be handed to you shortly. Then we can enter” one of the many guards announces.

Another one steps up as well “I want all of you to behave. No one moves past their own shower space that has been marked on the walls. No pushing, no touching, no interacting. If any of you dare to disobey, there will be serious consequences, understood?” A series of hums and groans sounds in the spacious hallway.

Only minutes later, two nurses appear, pushing a cloth cart in their direction. They give each of them a pair of pants and a shirt, accompanied by a bar of soap and a washcloth. Once done, they leave just as fast as they came.

“Alright, head in one by one and occupy a shower space. You’ll get uncuffed and have 15 minutes to freshen up and get dressed” the guard from earlier instructs.

-

Minho can feel the warm water running down his body. He can’t remember the last time he had a warm shower to just let loose. Since he has some time for himself- not really, but he takes what he gets, his mind wanders to Jisung. He misses him incredibly. He’s losing track of time with how long he’s been here and how monotone the days are.

Minho remembers his plan b. Technically, if he wants to try anything, his time would be now. He’s uncuffed and has the ability to move freely for at least 10 minutes as of now. He thinks back to what the guard said. If he were to dare and try anything, it would carry serious consequences.

Now or never.

Minho steps closer to the edge. One step further and he’d be out. He lifts his gaze and is met with the intense stare of one of the straitjacket men from earlier, their restraints lifted this time around. Their eyes are focused on Minho’s body, going up and down as they hold a conversation with the person next to them.

Minho shakes his head, trying to get a clear head.

He takes a big step out of his space, now out in the open, vulnerable.

One of the guards locates him instantly “Hey! What did I just say?! Go back into the shower!” they yell out.

Minho, however, stays unmoving.

The guards start moving at him now “I will not repeat myself, Lee Minho”

The younger visibly panics, contemplating his options. Not having enough time to come up with anything, he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind "Oh so that privileged fuck over there can hold small talk with his mate even though its strictly forbidden? How is that fair?!"

Minho realizes too late what he actually just said. He sees the eyes of the man he just insulted change drastically. “What did you just say?” he utters in an eerily calm voice and pushes off the wall he was leaning on, stepping closer.

Before Minho can make a run for it, the man lunges himself at him and tries to knock him over. His feet give out under him from how slippery the tiles are and from the sheer force of the other. His head collides with the floor and he can hear a harsh crack. His vision blurs and his ears start ringing. The last thing he hears before he blacks out, is the faint screaming of multiple people. Who those voices belong to, he can’t tell.

-

His eyes open slowly to a bright light blinding his vision. Is that it? Did he actually die?  
He tries to adjust his eyes and relief washes over him as he realises that the light he saw wasn’t actually “the light”; it's merely a lamp hanging off the ceiling.

Minho groans out in annoyance as it dawns on him, that this could in fact still be part of the asylum and he didn’t make it. That his plan failed and he’d have to rethink everything.

A heavy weight moving on his arm, however, pulls him out of his inner turmoil. He tries to pull his head to the side and see what it is, hoping that it’s who he thinks it is. As painful as it is to move, he eventually makes it and catches a glimpse of someone’s full head of hair, single strands sticking out in all directions.

“Sungie…?” he croaks out weakly.

The younger stirs but remains unmoving, seemingly asleep. Minho tries to move his arm from under him but the pain surging through his body is too strong to do much. Nonetheless, he pushes with all his might, trying to reach for him.

“Jisung! Wake up!” Minho tries again louder, his voice failing him partially.

“Mhh 5 more minutes” the younger mumbles. The realization of someone talking to him hits and he opens his eyes slowly, hoping that he’s not just dreaming. Jisung turns his head wearily and almost jumps onto the bed at seeing his lover looking at him.

He surges forward and puts his hands around his face “You’re awake” he whispers, tears forming in his eyes.

“What happened?”

"Someone here tried to fix our washing machine and got electrocuted” Jisung nearly sobs as he tries to speak. “Minho, do you realise how dangerous that was? Tech school attendee or not, you could’ve died! They weren’t even sure if you’d wake up, and if, how much damage it would’ve caused” the younger breaks down on Minho’s chest.

“Darling, I’m fine. See? I can talk, I can see and I’m pretty sure I can move my limbs just as fine” he tries to calm Jisung.

“We’ll see all that once they check up on you. For now I’m just glad that you’re awake” he gasps and goes in to plant a gentle kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. Minho, however, keeps him there a little longer, holding onto the kiss.

A few doctors come in later and do a full check up on Minho.

“You’re very lucky to have survived that big of an electroshock, Mr.Lee. Without much damage at that.” one of them concludes.

“Your body will be hurting for a while. You have severe burn marks on the body parts that came into contact with the source of electricity. Those will most likely leave scars. Other than that you should be fine but we still have to check up on you regularly.” they explain.

“You’ll be discharged in about three days, from there we’ll schedule your next appointment here, Mr. Lee”

“Thank you for everything you’ve done” Jisung sniffles gratefully.

Once the doctors and nurses leave the room he turns to Jisung “I’m sorry for putting you through all of this, Sungie.” he blinks slowly.

“It’s okay, Sweetie. You were just trying to help. But please, don’t ever try being the hero again and boast about your knowledge, if it means that I could possibly lose you” the younger is at the brink of tears once again.

“I love you” Minho looks at him with adoration in his eyes.

“I love you, too” Jisung pouts and goes in to hug him.

With the warmth of Jisung’s hug, he finally rests back into the sheets and hums.

"It’s finally over...right?”

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think about the story? Which world do you think Minho is actually in and which one is just a figment of his imagination? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
> 
> I hope I didn't do too bad of a job writing horror! I'd gladly take constructive criticism!
> 
> A huge thank you to my beta and very good friend Ely (kittenchxn on twt)! Thank you for helping me through this, it sure was a wild ride and I appreciate you lots!!! <3 Also big thanks to my best friend Kayla, I love you! <3
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> My NSFW twitter -> SAIL0RME0NG
> 
> !!!Please do not repost!!!


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